Welding Tips and Tricks

hello everyone

So I am in school for welding and every other week there is something wrong with our pipe bevel . today i had to bevel two 8 inch pipes but the instructor told me the pipe bevel could not be used for the day . so im trying my best but its crazy hard to get it to near perfection . Also when i do hand bevel it takes along time 3 hours and class is only 5 hours long what is the best way to hand bevel pipe fast with only a hand grinder and eye balling it . I mean how much hand beveling is done in the field really ?? should i just suck it up and do the time hand grinding or what till monday and hope the pipe beveler is up and running ??

If they are just short pipe coupons, chuck them in the lathe and let them turn while you hold the grinder stationary.

Or, if you're able, bevel it with the lathe.

I hand bevel a lot of my fittings and pipe. I just did about 40 4inch sch40 pipe joints. All cut and built in place. It only takes about 5-10 minutes to bevel. On heavy wall 6inch for example it should only take about 15 or 20 minutes per pipe end. I.e. 40 minutes per weldable joint of grind time.

thanks for the response guys

a lathe sounds like a good idea but my school does not have one me and my instructor kinda left on bad terms last friday . I went on ahead and started to hand bevel the pipe coupons and he kept saying it was wrong this side was too high that side was too low this angle was off here so it was just getting frustrating i spent almost two hours trying to meet his standards so idk ig its just one of those things about being a a student lol im doing mig on 5g pipe

Don't worry, grinding all the same on a round surface is not super easy - it'll come in time.

The task is more or less difficult to accomplish depending on the size of your grinder and the type of abrasive wheel that you use. Dewalt fiber/abrasive wheels work much better than those crappy Diablo wheels that home depot sells. A 7" angle grinder is gonna take the meat off a whole helluva lot quicker than will a 4 1/2" angle grinder. I just chuck mine up in a vice. Your angle doesnt have to be perfect either. It just needs to be relatively close.
Make and use a bevel gauge if you're going to be doing this crap by hand. Someone on this site showed me this several months ago and they are really nice to have.